Dallas is the king of steakhouse cities

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You could spend a month in Dallas eating only at steakhouses, but that wouldn't leave much time (or room) for barbecue or Tex-Mex or any of the chef-driven restaurants for which the region has received acclaim. Instead, follow this trail to the best steakhouses in town. Begin at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, a short drive from DFW International Airport, which just happens to also be the shortest distance between your arrival and one of the city's best dining experiences. Pappas Bros. dry ages its beef in house and pulls wines from its 33,000-bottle collection - one of the best in Texas - especially convenient given that you're probably going to need a drink.
Michael Hiller

Pappas Bros. Steakhouse looks and feels like a classic steakhouse: tall ceilings, soft lighting, leather chairs. The restaurant specializes in dry-aged USDA Prime beef and premium wines whose list garners Wine Spectator Grand Awards each year. Pappas Bros. dry ages its beef in house for up to 42 days, cooks all its food from scratch and takes no shortcuts. You can order salmon or a seafood platter, but what's the point when you can eat one of the city's best rib-eye steaks served by some of the city's best staff?
Michael Hiller

Plenty of Dallas steakhouses serve USDA Prime beef. One or two also carry some beef imported from Japan. Nick & Sam's Steakhouse is the only restaurant to serve eight imported varieties of Japanese beef, including Kobe, Hokkaido, Ohmi, Miyazaki and Hyogo. That's more authentic Japanese beef than any other steakhouse in America stocks. Nick & Sam's chef and co-owner Samir Dhurandhar amps up the luxury even further: he'll create an off-the-menu steak sampler so you can try all of them at the same time.
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

"We're one of only eight restaurants in America where you can order Hyogo beef from Japan," says Nick & Sam's Steakhouse chef and co-owner Samir Dhurandhar. "Of course, we're also the only one that also has Hokkaido, Ohmi and Miyazaki, too." Shown clockwise from top left (price per ounce): Hokkaido ($55), Ohmi ($48), Miyazaki ($37), Hyogo ($67). And if you think that no one would pay $670 for a 10-ounce steak, think again. Dhurandhar says he sells 15-30 pounds of the superprime Hyogo beef every week.
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

In addition to prime steaks and Japanese beef, Nick & Sam's serves some of the city's best sushi and sashimi. "We always have something exotic," chef and co-owner Samir Dhurandhar says. "Right now, it's this Akamutsu Japanese sea bass ($40 per ounce), but next week it'll be something else."
Michael Hiller

Named (and sized) for Dallas Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki, the 43-ounce USDA Prime bone-in filet is custom cut to honor the basketball player, whose jersey number is 43, for his contributions to the city. The "Dirk" is only available at Nick & Sam's, which sells a dozen of the specially dry-aged Allen Brothers steaks each week.
Michael Hiller

'Top Chef 'contestant John Tesar serves dry-aged USDA prime beef at his Knife steakhouse that's unlike any other in the U.S., he says. "We're the only place that dry ages our beef up to 400 days. You can spend a bundle here, but I'm a chef and apply chef techniques to less expensive cuts of meat like flat iron, culotte and tri-tip so that they'll be just as tender and delicious as prime beef."
Kevin Marple

Knife steakhouse serves as the marquee restaurant of the Highland Hotel in Dallas. "We respect our products," Knife chef and owner John Tesar says. "We don't tenderize the meats with papaya or pins or crazy tenderizers. We just buy great meat, put it in our aging box, cook it properly and put it on your plate. We do it better than most people - and you can taste that."
Michael Hiller

Knife steakhouse chef and owner John Tesar dry ages his beef in house for up to 400 days. "You don't just plop meat in a cooler, add a UV light and let it go for a month," Tesar says. "That doesn't turn into great dry-aged steaks. You don't have to eat a 90-day or 120-day or 240-day dry-aged steak to notice the difference. Just try a proper 45-day dry-aged steak, and you'll never go back to wet-aged."
Michael Hiller

John Tesar's hit steakhouse, Knife, also serves one of Texas' best burgers: his pimento cheese burger (farthest right) was ranked among the top five burgers in the state by 'Texas Monthly Magazine'.
Escapehatchdallas.com

Dee Lincoln (left) and her chef, T.J. Lengnick, are the culinary superpowers at Dee Lincoln Prime. Lincoln is the co-founder of Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse but now runs her own place. "The first time people come to Dee Lincoln Prime is to see what Dee Lincoln is doing," says Lincoln. "They miss the original Del Frisco's and wonder if I can recapture that magic. They come here hoping to see me, but then they keep coming back whether I'm here or not - and I'm here a lot. I'm all in. This is my baby, and I'm not letting go of it."
Michael Hiller

Dee Lincoln Prime serves Allen Bros. USDA Prime, the same steaks that brought acclaim to Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse, the chain she co-founded than later sold. "Without a doubt, Dallas is the best steakhouse city in America," Lincoln says. "It's a more powerful steakhouse city than New York or Chicago or Miami because we do steaks better than any of them. And I should know because I opened the biggest steakhouse in Manhattan."
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

"Take a look at this restaurant," says Dee Lincoln, surveying the dining room of her Dee Lincoln Prime. "It's elegant, it's beautiful, it has a soul. There's a lot of natural light, art and culture in here. You have to evolve and so does a steakhouse. You can't stay with dark paneling and leather if you want to move forward."
Michael Hiller

Al Biernat (right) and Brad Fuller run Al Biernat's, a pair of steakhouses widely acclaimed for gracious service and USDA Prime beef from Allen Brothers of Chicago. Biernat, once a GM of Palm steakhouses, left to create his own successful brand.
Michael Hiller

Al Biernat's North is restaurateur Al Biernat's second steakhouse. Following a multimillion-dollar redo, it inhabits the space that once housed the original Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse.
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

Chris Vogeli, the chef and co-owner of III Forks, serves USDA Prime steaks at his 800-seat steakhouse, including super-premium beef from Strube Ranch in east Texas. The seven-unit chain was founded in Dallas 20 years ago by Dale Wamsted, who with Dee Lincoln co-founded Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse.
Michael Hiller

"Visitors come to III Forks expecting a big steak," says chef and co-owner Chris Vogeli. "It's how we do business here. All of Dallas knows us for big steaks and incredible service. We don't mess with where the beef comes from, how we season it or how we cook it. We think we know how to do beef, so we haven't changed how we do it in 20 years."
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

"Everyone loves our corn," says Chris Voglie, the chef and co-owner of III Forks, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. "We go through 30 bushels a week of sweet corn and shuck all of [the] corn ourselves." The creamed corn is based on a recipe borrowed from a ranch hand from the Texas panhandle.
Michael Hiller

"We wanted a grand steak and seafood place, with lots of hand-carved woods and antler chandeliers so that it looked like it was both Texas and French at the same time," says III Forks chef and co-owner Chris Voglie. "The menu started out as half seafood, half steak, but we dropped most of the seafood because people around here really love steak. Now, we're meat and potatoes."
Michael Hiller

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse was founded in Dallas, though its menu nods to the big, bold flavors of New Orleans. The creole-spiced jumbo lump crab cake is still one of the best anywhere.
Michael Hiller

Fogo de Chao takes a different spin on the traditional steakhouse with its Brazilian churrascaria. Servers called gauchos roam the dining room offering unlimited portions of skewered, grilled meats. The chain was founded in Dallas. It's new flagship restaurant sits in the same retail development as two other prime beef specialists: Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse and Haywire.
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

Classic steakhouses aren't the only prime steakhouses founded in Dallas. The city is also home base for Brazilian churrascaria chain Fogo de Chao, which was recently acquired by a private equity firm for $560 million.
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

Celebrating the "bigger is better" mantra, Town Hearth is an over-the-top Dallas steakhouse whose chef and owner, Nick Badovinus, refuses to call his restaurant a steakhouse. With 63 chandeliers, a submarine, a motorcycle and a classic car in the kitchen, Town Hearth follows its own path, but the beef-heavy menu (with locally raised beef from the Rosewood Ranch) whispers "modern steakhouse."
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

There's a silver 1961 MG-A convertible in the kitchen at Town Hearth, a Dallas steakhouse whose owner won't call it a steakhouse. That's okay; the rest of us will.
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

"Steak is so important in Dallas that even hotel restaurants have to have a great steak on the menu," says Dean Fearing, the chef and co-owner of Fearing's at The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas. Fearing and his executive chef, Eric Dreyer (pictured right, next to Dean Fearing), recently rolled out a dedicated steak menu that features beef from A Bar N Ranch,on the outskirts of Dallas.
Michael Hiller

Even big steakhouse chains have to up their quality to be successful in Dallas. LongHorn Steakhouse, for example, recently entered the Dallas market with a USDA Prime ribeye steak that's only offered in its Texas restaurants.
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

Ranchers at 44 Farms raise Black Angus-Wagyu beef cattle whose steaks are sold at the top steakhouses and restaurants in Dallas, such as Knife, CBD Provisions, Haywire, the Ranch at Las Colinas and Fearing's. "44 Farms beef tastes better and ages better than every other beef in America," says Knife chef-owner John Tesar. "It's because their genetics are better and they're finished on sorghum and molasses rather than silage, which means their meat tastes incredible."
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

Rosewood Ranch, 50 miles southeast of Dallas, raises Black Angus-wagyu cattle whose steaks are served at several prominent Dallas steakhouses, including Town Hearth and Ocean Prime, and at chef Jose Andres' Bazaar Meats in Las Vegas. "Corporations, restaurants, hotels, everybody in Dallas is selling tons of steaks and none of them are failing," says Michael Scott (right), the corporate chef of Rosewood Ranch. "People now care about where their beef comes from and how it was raised," adds ranch manager Kenneth Braddock (left).
Michael Hiller, escapehatchdallas.com

We Texans love our beef. Many of us practically consider ourselves “second generation” vegetarians: the cows eat the vegetables, then we eat the cows.

It’s little wonder that many of the great steakhouses you’re familiar with have deep Dallas roots. Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse and its Del Frisco’s Grille were founded here. So were Bob’s Steak & Chop House, III Forks, Nick & Sam’s, Al Biernat’s, Knife, and the Brazilian churrascarias Texas de Brazil and Fogo de Chao.

That domestic Wagyu beef you enjoyed in Manhattan or Las Vegas? There’s a good chance it has its Black Angus roots in Texas cattle ranches like 44 Farms, A Bar N Ranch, Rosewood Ranch or the Beeman “Heartbrand” Ranch.

“A lot of American cities have good steakhouses,” says Dallas chef Stephan Pyles, “But Dallas is the king of steaks. Everyone who comes to Dallas wants to eat steak. It’s an integral part of our Western culture.”

Top Chef star John Tesar also recognizes the draw of prime beef. He closed his acclaimed Spoon seafood restaurant and opened Knife, a modern steakhouse where he dry ages Texas beef for up to 300 days. Knife has proven so popular, he’s inking deals to open additional locations across the USA.

Not to be outdone, Nick & Sam’s Steakhouse chef and co-owner Samir Dhurandhar added a 2.5-pound steak and imported Japanese Hokkaido, Ohmi and Hyogo beef to his menu. The Hyogo sells for a whopping $67 an ounce, and Dhurandhar says he has no trouble selling 30-40 pounds of Japanese beef a week. “We’re blessed that people want to eat the best beef in the world,” he says.

Bob Sambol, the founder of the Bob’s Steak & Chop House chain, agrees. “You go to New York to eat Italian and you come to Dallas to eat steak," he says. "Everything important gets commemorated with a steak dinner. No one says, ‘let’s go celebrate with chicken.’”

“Dallas is a steakhouse city,” Tesar says. “If you look up and down the streets here, you won’t see a lot of things growing in fields. But you don’t have to drive very far to see cattle. That’s the real farm-to-table food here.”

Which are the best steakhouses in Dallas? Restaurant critic Michael Hiller has eaten at every notable steakhouse in Dallas-Fort Worth and takes you on a tour of the best in the photo gallery on above. Follow him on Instagram @MikeHillerDallas.

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Delmonico’s opened in 1837 in Manhattan’s Financial District. The steakhouse calls itself America’s “first fine-dining restaurant,” and executive chef Billy Oliva continues that tradition with a modern take on classic dishes.
Atsushi Tomioka

Alfred Bacchini immigrated to the United States from Italy, and opened Alfred’s in San Francisco in 1928. In 2016, the Daniel Patterson Group took over the steakhouse, but kept many features like the red paint and leather booths.
Alanna Hale, courtesy of Alfred's

One of the signature appetizers at the Buckhorn Exchange is the Rocky Mountain oysters, or bull testicles, served with a horseradish dipping sauce. You can also order smoked rattlesnake or fried alligator tail, if you’re in the mood.
Buckhorn Exchange

Charlie Petrossi opened Charlie’s Steak House in New Orleans in 1932. The restaurant remains true to its original mission, offering steak and a cold drink in a decidedly unpretentious environment.
Dryades Entertainment

Chicago’s Gene & Georgetti opened in 1941, and three-quarters of a century later the steakhouse continues to be a family-run business. Over the years, celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope have eaten here.
Gene & Georgetti

Las Vegas' Golden Steer Steakhouse may not be the oldest steakhouse in America (it opened in 1958), but it is certainly a classic. It has been a hangout for mobsters and celebrities over the years, including Sammy Davis Jr. who was welcomed there when he wasn't at other establishments because of his race.
Chris Wessling

The Playboy Strip got its name after writer Calvin Trillin wrote about Jess & Jim’s for Playboy in 1972. This steak, a signature menu item, weighs in at 25 ounces.
Emilie Haynes, courtesy of Jess & Jim's Steakhouse

A Polynesian-themed steakhouse in Glendale, Calif., Damon's will celebrate its 80th year in June. Enjoy a steak or Damon’s signature prime rib au jus in a retro-chic setting, and wash it all down with a tiki cocktail or two.
Damon's

Texas seems like an obvious choice for a good steak. Cattlemen’s has been serving them up in the Fort Worth Stockyards District since 1947. Nowadays, if you can’t make it in, you can visit the restaurant’s website and have a steak shipped to your home.
Cattlemen’s Steakhouse